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A report issued Wednesday by Gartner Dataquest predicts that the machines, based on a new version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, will account for just 1 percent of worldwide notebook shipments in 2003, for a total of about 425,000 tablet PCs.

While they may find wider adoption in niche markets that are currently using pen-based tablets, "only the bravest" will have adopted tablet PCs widely by the end of 2003, Gartner Dataquest vice president Leslie Fiering said in a release.

Research firm IDC also predicts that tablet PCs will get off to a relatively slow start, selling about 575,000 units in the United States in 2003 and about 1 million units in 2004. The total U.S. notebook market will be about 13 million units in 2003, IDC predicts, about 8 percent of which will be ultraportables.

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See, the really neat thing about having an acrylic PSU mod is the fact that the light spreads to the edges, therefore the edges basically glow. Notice how the edges are a bright blue and the PSU mod itself isn't?"

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Both the cards that we looked at today performed reasonably well. Although we must say that we were slightly disappointed with Gainward's overclocking. Even though it performed identical to the MSI, we have this image formed of Gainward that its amongst the best overclockers- and this is based on our previous experience with their cards.

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Overall the Soltek SL-75FRV has been very stable throughout the testing and benchmarking. While the DDR400 scores are disappointing this isn't isolated to Soltek boards by any means but a bug within the KT400 chipset. The DDR333 scores are on par with other KT333 based motherboards however take into consideration the entire package and you'll see that Soltek is offering quite a package here for under $100.

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To say that I am excited about this card would be an understatement. Not since the days of the Voodoo5 5500 have we had a serious contender for the NVIDIA speed crown. Don't get me wrong, I love NVIDIA's products, and own several of them; but serious competition only makes the market better for all of us.

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While it might be a bare product without any extra features, the stylish silver PCB and overclocking capabilities would make it a great hit in a computer used just for show purposes. Even though its based on the older i845E chipset, with a high quality stick of memory, it will be able outperform most of the i845PE boards available on the market.

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NVIDIA plans to offer the AGP 8x part of the Ti 4200 mainly to give users the choice of a performance graphics card at an attractive price point. Ideally, buyers of the nForce2 platform can immediately take advantage of the AGP 8x interface using the GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x.

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Its unique design not only allows it to obtain impressive levels of performance, but may also make it a collector's item in its own right; the OTES cooling system isn't found anywhere else. Lets you think otherwise though, not only is the OTES system pretty, but it also has a lot of muscle.

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The consumer electronics giant's semiconductor division on Monday debuted the main guts of a DVD+RW drive, including an integrated chipset, optical pickup unit, firmware and reference design, that can record speeds up to 8X. The company will license and sell components for the drive and expects manufacturers to have them available in the first half of next year.

"In the PC world, time to market is everything, and the rational here is to help drive makers to hit those tight windows and give them the quickest time to market," said Roger Gregory, a marketing manager in the company's semiconductor group.

Philips holds key patents for the DVD+RW format and stands to make significant revenue from royalty fees if the DVD+RW format becomes the dominant one in the market. The company has been one of the major promoters of the DVD+RW format along with Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and other members of the DVD+RW Alliance. The other major formats in the DVD-rewritable market include DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM, which are being promoted by another industry group called the DVD Forum.

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Ollila said the era is over in which Nokia could focus purely on new designs and features for its basic phones. Of the color screen models it expects to ship in 2003, Nokia said roughly 10 million will double as personal organizers, offering services such as e-mail and calendars.

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I used to run a self assembled watercooling system and while it was a lot of fun to setup and run, I have to say I enjoyed the simplicity of hooking up the QuietPower hardware to my system. Attaching a pair of waterblocks is something anyone can do and shouldn't be scared of. Water and PC's really do go together if done properly and it's done properly here.

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And amid the plastic pumpkins and reflective child safety vests and cheap costumes I found a shelf full of lighting effects. Most were pretty typical blacklights or just oddly-shaped bulbs, or otherwise pretty pedestrian items. But one item jumped out at me--a small plasma globe. It had a plastic witch attached to it, or there were some with a skull instead. But in a fraction of a second, I had formulated a plan. I decided it was worth ten bucks to see if this idea was really too crazy to work. The item came with an instruction sheet that warned against using it in the vicinity of any microchips.

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Well just like I expected the waterblock is more waterflow resistant then the GeForce 3 block but this doesn't seem to affect the real world performance by much. I think it's because the tunnel in the waterblock is so short that a faster waterflow wouldn't do much.

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You might think we sound like a bunch of ATI Fan-boys from this review, but its hard to suppress the hardware-lust inside of us after spending a great deal of time with the coolest desktop video card ever made  and until NVIDIA does something to top the AIW 9700 Pro, that lust and love will stay put.

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In a move to boost the performance of four-way or greater servers without necessarily boosting their cost, Intel on Monday introduced the latest iteration of its Xeon Processor MP. The new chip is faster than its predecessor, features twice the integrated Level 3 cache memory, and is the first Xeon Processor MP manufactured on the company's 0.13-micron process.

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W32.Braid, also known as PE.Brid, can spread to PCs running any version of Microsoft Windows. People who use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 and 5.5 may find that their computers automatically become infected, because Braid uses an old flaw in Internet Explorer to automatically execute the attachment that carries it when the e-mail message is viewed. Patching the program with Service Pack 2 will solve the problem, Network Associates said in its advisory on the virus.

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AOL's new offer includes the AIM Enterprise Gateway, which allows system administrators to manage the use of messaging software from behind a corporate firewall. It can be configured with a private domain service that allows administrators to manage IM screen names from corporate directories.

It will also let managers keep tighter control of employees' use of the service, letting mangers log, audit and create reports on all AIM communications so they can be monitored for legal, regulatory and accounting compliance.

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Market acceptance for the ASROCK motherboards is said to be rather strong, as the products are priced at around US$45-50, only a few dollars higher than motherboards from Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS). More importantly, sources at Asustek said that no confusion between the positioning of ASROCK and Asustek motherboards has been reported.

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This board has an outstanding array of features and is very much the overclocker's friend with a mostly intuitive and highly flexible BIOS to configure. We didn't have any overwhelming problems with it, and the only instabilities we ran into that weren't directly related to over-overclocking the board were with software and not hardware. The onboard 10/100/1000 adapter is a huge plus, and the Firewire and USB 2.0 support make it ideal for media transfer and conversion applications. Once Serial-ATA devices enter the market, this board will become even more useful. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cornerstone to a video production workstation, gaming machine, or just general all-around system.

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The ASUS V9280S is a good card with a higher than nVidia reference core and clock speed- although we would've liked to see it overclock more. Hitting 300/650 is not bad at all for a Ti4200 but we have seen the older Ti4200s reach higher core and the memory on the ASUS is spec'd at 650, so it would have been nice to see those Copper heatsinks pull at least another 20-30MHz.

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As you have seen from the benchmarks, this video card leads the other Ti4200s in almost every test due to its higher default clockspeeds. When overclocked to 315/686, it even surpasses the flagship model Ti4600. Thats something no other Ti4200 has been able to do as of yet.

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Temperature controlled fans on heatsinks are not exactly commonplace. They have potential to cool effectively and quietly, but few hardware reviewers take any serious notice. Is it because they don't work?

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The Radeon 9700 Pro made a mockery out of the benchmarks we've thrown at it today. Whether or not you need it will depend on a lot of things. I've made it very clear in our bottlenecking article that with great video card power, you'd better have the CPU to back it up.

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We were truly blown-away by this board from start to finish. Its rich feature set has no rival in the current market, and it proved itself to be a pleasure to use, and a breeze to operate throughout out tests. And, as if that isn't enough, it's Overclocking performance is excellent, and will allow users to extract every drop of power from their CPUs.

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Kollar-Kotelly also modified the oversight of Microsoft's compliance with the settlement. Originally, the proposal included a technical committee and an internal compliance officer, both potentially influenced by Microsoft. In Friday's ruling, the judge combined the two into a compliance committee made up of Microsoft board members. In turn, the committee must hire a compliance officer, to report to the committee and to Microsoft's CEO. As corporate officers and non-Microsoft employees, the compliance committee in theory would be more likely to appropriately enforce the settlement in this era of renewed corporate responsibility.

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The Abit AT7-MAX2 Motherboard is an overclockers dream and there's more onboard stuff than you can imagine (Firewire, USB2, LAN, Audio, RAID, etc). If you are in the market for a new AMD based motherboard that is simply over the top then you can be assured that this motherboard will satisfy completely! Watch the Video to find out more...

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The SB51G's performance speaks for itself. This thing is just as fast as the fastest full-sized ATX motherboards we have on hand today. In fact, working with the SB51G has made me start wondering whether I wouldn't want to replace my desktop PC with an XPC system. These aren't idle thoughts, either.

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There is just a small difference between the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro and the FIC AT010 Radeon 9700 Pro but it also proves that this card is quite flexible and many more tweaks can enhance performance and increase shelf-life.

Looks like the $1000 I've been saving is all for nothing. $2000-$5000? That is just insane!

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Toshiba's new Portege 3505 Tablet PC, for example, was described as coming with a 12.1-inch screen, a 1.3GHz Pentium III processor from Intel, both 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless networking, 512MB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. The 4-pound device will sell for $2,499, according to the site. The company may offer a couple of less-expensive models with less memory or smaller hard drives as well.

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In the dot-com shakeout, Google has not only survived but reigns supreme. Web surfers have flocked to the service, effectively voting it the best search engine around. So powerful has Google become that many companies view it as the Web itself: If you're not listed on its indexes, they say, you might as well not exist. And if you don't advertise on Google or otherwise curry favor, critics add, you may never find out what it takes to get a prominent listing.

Asus P4S8x on the bench at Lost Circuits. I dunno about you, but I'm lost in Circuits class also .The one thing that strikes out from this review is the impact of the different BIOS revisions on the overall system performance. There are tons of additional benchmarks that we could have posted and that would all show the same, meaning that the higher (later) BIOS revisions literally kill the performance.

R9700 lovin at SubZeroTech.ATi's Radeon 9700 Pro video card is definitely worth the upgrade, it won't boost your performance by a little bit but instead it will change the way you play games. After upgrading to this card from a ti4200 I thought there was no difference. There really isn't a noticeable difference from a GF4 ti upgrade but when you start maxing out the settings, turning up the resolution and turning on some AA you will never go back to any other video card.

Those crazy Vantec EZ swappy thingies at OC Cafe.This drive tray simply blows away my old drive tray when it comes to features. My old one supports ATA-133 and has the fan, aluminum construction, and dust cover, but none of the other features of this drive tray.

Nice Antec 1080AMG case at PC Stats.Putting aside the new bezel for just a moment, the two major changes which stick out are the side panel fan, and a new hidden door on the front. The side mounted fan pulls air into the case to help keep things like sound cards, and graphics adaptors in a steady stream of air. The twin rear mounted exhaust fans are still in place to help exhaust that air as well.

This is a nicec looking chair over at Designtechnica.Our Plus 8 office chair came fully constructed since it came from a local dealer. However should you order this chair over the internet or phone, you can expect the chair to come in about 5 separate parts; the back rest, seat, wheels and base and the arm rests. Construction should take no longer than any other chair; about 10 minutes. The Plus 8 is a very aesthetically pleasing chair and looks like a piece of art in any office setting. Our chair came in a Navy blue fabric, but there are many different colors and styles to choose from, including leather. The Plus 8 feels very firm and unforgiving with its initial setting, so expect to spend some time adjusting its many features to fit your body weight and posture style. The headrest can be positioned perfectly but may be considered too firm for some. Also the armrests could be sturdier. While the armchair offers great adjustability, it unfortunately means there are also more ways for it to accidentally slide out of position. The Free Float and Sychron functions are nothing short of amazing, moving fluidly with your body. Compared to most other office chairs, we found the Plus 8 to be refreshingly comfortable, even after continued use.

Envy goes with an Antec case also, the Performance Plus 660AMG.The fit and finish on the Antec Performance Plus 660AMG case is second to none. There were no gaps in the fit between case parts and drives, and was overall of solid construction. The Front data ports give you easy multimedia access, and the door handle on the side panel gives you easy access to the inside of your case.

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By using the open-source software and low-cost processors from Taiwan chipmaker Via, Wal-Mart has been able to drive down prices to $199 for a PC without a monitor.

Lycoris was launched in Redmond, Wash., home base of OS rival Microsoft, two years ago by former Microsoft systems tester Joseph Cheek. The company began selling Lycoris Desktop/LX, its version of Linux for desktop PCs, early this year and quickly won recognition for dressing up Linux with a user interface similar in look and feel to recent versions of Windows.

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Based on a set of Department of Defense specifications for trusted systems known as the Orange Book, the Common Criteria certification doesn't guarantee that an operating system or software application is bug-free, but that the development and support processes that created and maintain the product meet a certain level of standards.

Windows 2000 was certified at Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4, which the Common Criteria Web site defines as "methodically designed, tested and reviewed." The certification is the highest level that can be attested to by a commercial laboratory. The top levels of certification--EAL 5, 6 and 7--must be attested to by government agencies.

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"It's not the first time they've done it," Silver said. "Office XP wouldn't install on Windows 95. In fact, they built something into Office XP so that it wouldn't install on Windows 95."

Silver said a repeat performance with Office 11 would not be surprising, in part "because all support for Windows 98 and NT end on June 30, 2003. This is certainly in keeping with the lifecycle of Windows. If they don't support a version of Windows, why should they continue to support an application on that version of Windows?"

OCAddiction and the R9700 Pro.The 9700 is the card to have. PERIOD. It runs any current game, and doesnt even break a sweat with all the bells and whistles on. ATI has grabbed the golden ring from nVidia with the 9700, and if they have their way, they will hold onto it into 2003.

Envy, not nV, has a review of the Epox 4G4A+.I was able to get my 2.4G up to 2.7G much like I did with the 4G4A+, on the other side with stability both the 2700 and 3200 DDR options ran, but by sacrificing either overclocking or onboard options. However I have not given up on the performance and overclocking with these two options, I need to get my hands on a couple different manufactures of higher speed DDR and find out if it is the memory, motherboard or the pairing of the memory with the motherboard.

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The decision is significant because AOL has long claimed that AIM and ICQ users had no interest in communicating with one another. AOL has also come under industry criticism and federal regulatory scrutiny for its resistance to opening its IM network to outsiders.

"We're implementing the test in response to the growth of AOL in Europe, ICQ's leadership in Europe, and some consumer feedback from AOL members who wanted the ability to exchange instant messages with ICQ members," said Anne Bentley, an AOL spokeswoman.

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Gartner Dataquest, a division of Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc, believes that Dell's avowedly low-cost approach to computing will put increased pressure on smaller players and help swing the PDA market towards Pocket PC-powered devices rather than the currently numerically dominant Palm OS.

Dataquest's opinion was backed up by Michael Dell himself. The Dell CEO told a news conference in Tokyo yesterday that his company would be launching its first Pocket PC-based PDA "fairly soon, at least in the United States." However, Dell sees only limited near-term growth opportunities because of the small size of the market.

Wow, I really wouldn't expect the owner of the company to say that their products are good and will do good in the market (sarcasm).

Shuttle AK37 at Lost Circuits.The AK37GTR comes out on top of the Soyo KT400, especially with respect to the FPU bandwidth which is the highest we have seen so far on the VIA KT400 chipset.

Here is a Future tech showdown of the R9700 vs the NV30.Because the final version of DX9 has not been completed, I can only compare R300 and NV30 with DX9 Beta 2.1. There is a rumor that Microsoft probably provides both VS/PS (Vertex Shader / Pixel Shader) version 2.0 and version 3.0 in DX9.0. However, the earlier rumor said that DX9.0 only includes VS/PS version 2 and VS/PS version 3.0 is slated for DX9.1. Yeah sure.

Radeon 9700 lovin at Legionhardware.NVIDIAs next 3D weapon is not expected to be available until the end of the year and the codename for that product is NV30. The Radeon 9700 Pro is the first GPU to offer DirectX 9 features and again we will not see this support from NVIDIA until the NV30 hits the streets. Today I will be looking at ATis own version of the Radeon 9700 that retails for roughly $320 US. With many GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards becoming available for around $100 US less, is the Radeon 9700 Pro worth the high price tag? Lets go find out...

More 9700 action from Sapphire at Gaming Nexus.In conclusion, this is a worthy upgrade, especially if you currently have a GF3 series card. From what Ive seen around the net with comparisons with a GF4, it crushes them too since a GF4 is just a higher clocked GF3. The one I bought was about $330 from http://www.newegg.com. It's definitely on the high range in terms of price but you get performance that is second to none. As you can see from the benchmarks, it just blows the Geforce3 Ti500 out of the water. ATi has really developed a winner in the R300 chipset. It's hard to think that nVidia would ever give up the video card crown but here it is. ATi's newest is the greatest card out there right now.

Tech-Report and OTES.If your system already sounds like a 747 taking off, you'll probably be quite happy with the Siluro GF4 Ti4200 OTES, especially if you have a fetish for sexy video cables. Otherwise, it's probably better to go with a quieter GeForce4 Ti 4200, perhaps even Abit's own vanilla Siluro GeForce4 Ti 4200.

Ahh crap, I'm screwed. But, most places that I get Chinese from say no MSG. I hope that's true.

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Researchers at Hirosaki University in Japan have found that rats fed on diets high in MSG suffer vision loss and have thinner retinas. Glutamate is an amino acid that acts as a neurotransmitter. It has already been shown to cause nerve damage in experiments where it is injected directly into the eye.